CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Nerpio it runs 318 km to Nerpio; allow about 8 h 21 of riding. It goes by way of Zona 1, Guijarral, Abrigo del Engarbo and back through Guijarral. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,450 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
Very few people get here. The Cañaica del Calar lies in the far north-west of the region of Murcia, near the border with Albacete and Andalusia, in a wild landscape of limestone plateaus, pine forests and deep valleys around Moratalla and Nerpio. The calar is the local word for a limestone plateau, and the rock shelters on its edges hold prehistoric paintings in the Levantine style, part of the World Heritage rock art of the Mediterranean. The area around Nerpio is one of the richest in Spain for rock art.
Read the complete Cañaica del Calar l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cañaica del Calar l is where the day begins. Next is Zona 1.
Nerpio is about as far from anywhere as you can get in mainland Spain. The village lies in the southwestern corner of Albacete province, close to the borders of Murcia, Granada and Jaén, in a high, wild landscape of limestone ridges, pine forest and deep river valleys. The area is known for two things: walnuts, which grow in huge old trees along the Taibilla river and are celebrated in local cooking, and one of the densest concentrations of prehistoric rock art in the Iberian Peninsula, part of the UNESCO-listed rock art of the Mediterranean Basin. The generic label Zona 1 points at the hills near the village, where rock shelters with painted figures are scattered across the cliffs.
Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Zona 1 comes up about 32 km into the recorded legs. Next is Guijarral.
Spain's largest protected area is the Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas, and it spreads across a long stretch of wooded mountains in Jaén and Albacete. The Guijarral lies on its northern edge, in country close to Yeste, Segura de la Sierra and Orcera, where black pines and holm oaks cover steep slopes and rivers cut gorges between. Here, among rock walls, shelters preserve paintings, part of the Mediterranean Basin rock art listed by UNESCO in 1998, and the sites of the area, such as Zona 1 and the Collado de la Cruz, tell of hunting peoples who lived in these mountains long ago.
Read the complete Guijarral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 77 km into the recorded legs you reach Guijarral. Next is Abrigo del Engarbo.
Deep in the Sierra de Segura in the northeast of Jaén province, close to where the Segura river is born, the Engarbo rock shelters hide a few small painted figures under limestone overhangs. They belong to the great serial UNESCO listing of Levantine rock art, prehistoric paintings found along the mountains of eastern Spain, with stylised humans and animals in red ochre that have survived thousands of years of sun, frost and goats. The shelters are modest and fragile, often fenced, and visits usually need to be arranged locally, so treat them as a reason to explore this remote corner rather than a guaranteed sight.
Read the complete Abrigo del Engarbo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abrigo del Engarbo, about halfway. Next is back through Guijarral.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Guijarral write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Guijarral sits at 106 km, about halfway. Next is back through Zona 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Zona 1 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Zona 1 comes up about 286 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cañaica del Calar l.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cañaica del Calar l write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cañaica del Calar l closes the day.
Cañaica del Calar l → Zona 1 is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Zona 1 → Guijarral is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Guijarral → Abrigo del Engarbo is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abrigo del Engarbo → back through Guijarral is 94 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Guijarral → back through Zona 1 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Zona 1 → Cañaica del Calar l is 32 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.